


Break The Sky

by TheMadDesperado



Series: Inktober 2018 [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 17:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadDesperado/pseuds/TheMadDesperado
Summary: Iona didn't exactly like being the herald, but it did have some perks.





	Break The Sky

Iona didn't like being called Herald.

She was a big horned lady with a glowing hand, not a gentle call of changing times. The back line of defence, eyes that could find the target in a crowd and feet that kept her silent in the hunt, even when she was a foot taller than anyone else around.

She was a sign of change though, a Vashoth born in Fereldan and taught in the Free Marches. Everywhere she went there were eyes on her, the ox woman.

She didn't know anything about the Qun, her parents made sure of that, they burned all the books and left all traditions when they escaped. 

But that didn't matter to her. Iona fought whom she was hired to fight. Shokrakar was the one with the head for plans, Iona was the one with the good aim. 

It was when people around Haven started to call her that title that she began to hate it.

It wouldn't be so bad if they called her a hero or a great warrior. Nope, they immediately thought their god gave them a Vashoth to save them.

It was stupid.

And she told them so. She repeated to all she would meet that she was not the Herald, which only peeved her advisors off. 

It's not like Iona's words were heard, and it didn't help her advisors didn't deny the claims. 

And when she saved the mages from themselves through time, that was the final nail on the sign-board that read Herald. 

Actually it was probably when she saved Haven, and managed to come back from the avalanche.

She was a force of nature almost. Everywhere she went she would fix things, close rifts, find children or kill dragons, all only cementing the name Herald into her actions.

She did like being called Inquisitor much more than Herald. She earned the title, they wanted her in charge for some reason, even after she let in a Ben-Hassrath spy, a spirit boy and Orleasian mage.

She liked to break the rules that were in place for the Herald. 

She liked to help people personally, and hated sending out troops if she could do it herself. She was a soldier, an archer in the back and a ghost in shadows, not a fucking martyr.

She was placed farther into religion when she saved the wardens from themselves, but she felt she was falling. She let a great man die in the fade, and couldn't do anything to help the wardens already possessed.

Iona was swimming up waterfalls. She kept telling people she wasn't the Herald, just a Vashoth. Just a simple woman who didn't want any of this.

She did like the ball at the winter palace. She danced with The Iron Bull and made a scene, two large horned people dancing elegantly and gracefully. 

Iona was the chess player in the game. Empress Celene was the queen, Gaspard the knight and Brialla the bishop, but it was Iona who ruled over them.

She made the choice to let Celene die, and used the blackmail to put Brialla in charge. Floriane was an agent for the enemy, Iona should have seen it sooner. 

Iona did like the power her title gave her. She could help anyone who needed it, anyone but herself. 

She pushed herself harder than anyone else on the inquisition. She was the lynch pin. 

The Iron Bull saw that, and how she was drowning in Fereldan. 

Iona never though she could find happiness in the arms of Ben-Hassrath, her parents had warned her about them, but Bull was different. He became a Tal Vashoth for her and his men, he held her like he knew what she was.

The Inquisitor, she liked that for history books, then took her troops to the wilds with the witch. She drove a sword through and found the secret temple hidden in it's depths.

There was nothing in the world that could get her to drink the well of sorrows, she knew the dangers of magic, even if she didn't have it herself.

Probably the thing that actually made the name Herald stick was when she killed Corypheus. In a floating castle at that. 

She exploded from the rubble like a Phoenix, her anger palpable and her hand glowing like it was the new breach.

She was an untopable force, she could scream  from the top of Skyhold and feel like she could fly. Bull would catch her if she fell to far.

When her hand glowed brighter and burned hotter every day she knew her time on top was coming to an end. 

Flames ripped up her arm in the form of great fissures growing from the mark. It grew almost daily, only tiny bits, but on your body you notice such small changes.

She screamed when Solas stole her arm.

Bull saw the strong Inquisitor fall out of the mirror into a pile. Blood spattered and clutching where her arm was.

The Iron Bull roared for help. 

Iona was no longer an archer, she didn't have the arm for it anymore, but that didn't mean she stayed still or out of the fight. She had Bull for her blind spot, and a knife in her hand.

They didn't do stealth missions anymore.

People still called her Herald, and at that point Bull and Iona had a bet on how many recognized her with out the mark in each town. So far Iona was winning.

She still didn't like the title, and still preferred Inquisitor, but she did stop telling people she wasn't, at this point she was in the tales as Herald. 

She was happy though, she kept in contact with Shokrakar, and in turn the rest of her old team, and the chargers stayed with Bull. They found their place in the center of chaos, Iona never really liked being a heritic leader, but she had to admit it had it's perks.


End file.
